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Luigi's Mansion Headed To Arcades

Luigi's Mansion: Dark MoonAs if F-Zero AX and the Mario Kart Arcade GP games weren't holy grails of Nintendo arcade gaming already, now we find out that Capcom is working with Nintendo to create a new arcade title based on Luigi's Mansion.  Recently sent out for a location test in Japan, Luigi's latest ghostbusting adventure is a first-person light gun shooter where players wield a Poltergust 5000's vacuum attachment to suck away spectral phenomena.  Arcade Heroes has the details on the test and saddens all international fans with what I'd already assumed when I first heard the news: we'll likely never see this game outside of Japan.

The sad thing is however is that this is being handled by Capcom. I don’t say that as a negative to the game quality but as a negative to the chances of finding this outside of Japan. In Japan the company has not kept up very well with their arcade competitors in recent years. Aside from Street Fighter, releases have been rare, like the odd Monster Hunter themed pig racing game. They did do a New Super Mario Bros Wii themed redemption game which I have not seen imported to the West in any form so far. As Capcom has no official arcade presence out West, the only way we will see this here is an operator spending the cash to import it or a US-based manufacturer deciding to give it a go. Both of which are possibilities when you have chains like Dave & Busters or Round1USA wanting to get their hands on some unique games that no one else has.

I found F-Zero AX in the wild, so I'm one-for-two on tracking down obscure Nintendo arcade games.  Maybe I'll luck out some day with Luigi.  As for the game itself, it sounds interesting and seems to be the next logical progression in the Mansion series.  It's just a shame that more fans won't have the opportunity to enjoy it.  Hey Nintendo and Capcom, localize a few of these machines when they're done and send them out to travel the arcade game festival circuit!  Surely there's enough appeal out there to justify that.

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